Personal computer systems are well known in the art. They have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today's modern society. Personal computers (PCs) may be defined as a desktop, floor standing, or portable microcomputer that includes a system unit having a central processing unit (CPU) and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM) and basic input/output system read only memory (BIOS ROM), a system monitor, a keyboard, one or more flexible diskette drives, a CD-ROM drive, a fixed storage drive (also known as a “hard drive”), a pointing device such as a mouse, and an optional network interface adapter. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a motherboard or system planar to electrically connect these components together.
In an environment where there are multiple computers it is desirable that a user be authorized to use any of the computers thus allowing open seating. Biometric indices reliably identify but provide no authentication credentials. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates and keys reliably bind information to an entity but do not verify that the authorized person is using the credentials.
Existing solutions address this problem by requiring the user to carry either a secure memory token such as a smartcard or to have previously installed their credentials on the machine. Smartcards are relatively expensive to deploy and manage and result in access denial when lost or forgotten. Local storage of credentials require that the user had previously enrolled his information on that client and is inconsistent with the notion of true open seating.
Therefore a need exists for a data processing system and method for permitting only preregistered client hardware to access a service executing on a remote server computer system. The present invention addresses such a need.